Please lift travel ban on my sister and her son in China

A Malaysian appeals to China's Ambassador Huang Huikang to help speak to Chinese authorities to lift the travel ban preventing her sister and son from returning home.

FMT LETTERS

By Myra Cheng

Dear H E Ambassador Huang Huikang,

Your Excellency,

How are you? How I wish I could pay you a visit to present my case, but I gather you must be busy. Your Excellency Huang, I am the elder sister of Cheng Chuang Chau Yang.

Breaches of Chinese and international human rights laws

Chau Yang and her son, both Malaysians, have been barred from exiting China for the past 2 years, and possibly from what we unofficially understand, for another 10 years to come. Based on what was told to Chau Yang verbally by the Judge of the Shanghai Changning Enforcement Court – so long as the former husband (X) so wishes, he may continue to renew the bans no matter what Chau Yang does or does not do, simply because he has weekly visitation rights.

These exit bans are against existing Chinese legal practice – we have no written grounds, no warning, and no notification. Chau Yang and her eight-year old son have neither breached any laws nor committed any offences under Chinese laws.

But the bans are real and effective, just key in their names into the Shanghai Court website and see how the court has imposed a ban (normally used for financial disputes) on my sister and her son.

The verbal reasoning for the bans provided by the court that X had been denied access, is based on misrepresentation of the facts, and has totally ignored the unlawful behaviour of the person who had applied for these bans – Chau Yang’s former husband. He and his family have twice abducted the child, and used force to attempt a third abduction after a court supervised visit, he had ignored the court order for 8 months, he had obtained a false identity for the child to enter a local school in Changchun, he used intimidation tactics and violence to snatch and vandalize Chau Yang’s properties, he has rejected every proposal that Chau Yang made for him to visit the son, refusing to see the child simply because Chau Yang wanted the visitation to be supervised; and in the one and only visitation X agreed to attend (court supervised access), X’s family hurt ours in the process of violently attempting to snatch the child again. The child was traumatised.

The bans completely miss the best interests of the eight-year-old boy involved in this tussle and the custodial right of the mother. The bans also violate the many UN Conventions that both China and Malaysia are signatories to.

Appeals that went no where

All of Chau Yang’s written appeals were rejected verbally by the Shanghai Changning Execution Court judges. All her appeal letters (about 350 letters sent out to various departments) were either unanswered or routed back to the same judge.

For the past two years, we had tried all our means to get this rectified within the local Shanghai system, but to no avail.

Please help us channel our voice to Chinese central government

Coming back to Malaysia to seek help here is our last resort, Your Excellency.

Could you help look into this case please? As you represent China, you are our pathway to reach the Chinese Central Government.

Please help free Chau Yang and her son

Your Excellency, in your world, there must be a thousand other things shouting for your attention – cross-border projects worth millions, visits of VIPs to be prepared etc. etc.

But your attention to this case that involves two foreign nobodies will greatly enhance China’s standing among the public here. My family and I, along with (at this point) 7613 others who have signed our petition, believe that the Chinese legal system will provide protection to foreigners as well as its own nationals. We are sure that besides bringing in projects and businesses, China will also champion a culture that treasures the truth, fairness and compassion, much like what Confucius has taught.

The feeble voice of an eight-year old

Two days ago, my nephew and I had a conversation.

“DaYi (big aunt), I had a sad dream.”

“What was the dream about, my dear?”

“I dreamed that I was at the airport. I was walking towards the plane. But I woke up too soon. 10 more steps I would be in the plane already. 10 more steps…” I felt so heart-broken hearing that.

Your Excellency, being a child is such a vulnerable thing – he is helpless and defenceless, he is totally dependent on the people around him for his well-being and the shaping of his character. However, so many children have also been used as a tool of revenge in failed marriages, their rights and best interest trampled upon in the pretext of “love”. It is our responsibility as a society, as adults, as conscientious human beings, to protect the child – no matter what nationality he is, no matter how influential the abusive parent is, no matter how difficult it is. That is a sign of a progressive society.

Can you help protect this little nephew of mine, Your Excellency? Let’s not make him a prisoner of a vengeful father. Help set him free, please. He has done no wrong. Let him have a childhood he deserves.

Please channel our feeble voice to the Chinese central government. We cannot allow an injustice to be perpetuated, they have suffered enough.

Thank you.
Myra Cheng

Myra Cheng is Chau Yang’s elder sister.

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